Incident should remind to employers 'to conduct regular inspections and maintenance'
Engineering company Hofmann Engineering Pty Ltd has been fined $567,000 following the death of a worker at its Bassendean workshop in 2019.
The company, which pleaded guilty under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984, was also ordered to pay $28,695 in costs.
The worker was killed in May 2019 while operating a welding manipulator, which weighed 1,350 kilograms, to weld clamp plates to a girth gear segment. To complete the task, the worker was positioned beneath the boom of the machine when it suddenly fell, causing fatal crush injuries.
The Perth Magistrates Court heard that the company had failed to maintain a safe workplace by neglecting to provide regular inspections and maintenance of the welding manipulator.
"The court found that the machinery involved in this incident had not been adequately maintained and had also been sitting unused in storage for several years, exposing it to foreign materials such as dust," said WorkSafe Commissioner Sally North in a statement.
Independent experts later determined that the threads on the nuts holding up the boom were worn to the point of being unable to support the load. Additionally, the grease on the lead screw was found to be contaminated with foreign solid materials, negatively affecting its functionality.
There was also no manufacturer's manual or maintenance logbook for the equipment, and the only checks performed were limited to visual pre-operation inspections, which did not include an examination by a qualified fitter, the court heard.
"The tragic outcome of the company's failure to implement safe work procedures should serve as a warning to all employers with heavy machinery at their workplaces to conduct regular inspections and maintenance in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions and take action to eliminate or minimise any risks to workers' safety," North said.
